Energy - Force - Work - Power


  They seem interchangable words, but maybe we can define them a bit more precisely.


  `Energy' is a measure of (something's) ability to  do `Work' - so the unit of energy
  (and work) is the `joule'.

  `Energy' can be likened to a plate of beans, with a spoonful maybe being a `joule'.

  -

  `Force' is something that can move matter. If you speed-up or slow-down a mass of
  one kilogram by one metre per second per second (acceleration), you've exerted one
  newton of force.

  If you do it long enough to actually move it one metre (i.e. for one whole second)
  then you've used up one joule of energy.

  -

  `Power' is the rate at which you do amounts of work (or use energy) - so folks express
  power of a vehicle in cubic capacity (amount of gas used per second), or as the number
  of brake-horse-power delivered to its road-wheels.

  Although just used `horse-power', it's more usual (in `science') to use joules per
  second - watts.

  (A horse is deemed to produce 750 watts - enough to power a small heater.)

  ---

  SO - we can say "Energy can create Force, which can apply Power" (at a rate)


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